Winning the NCAA Championship didn't end competition for the Kentucky Wildcats in 1948. The Olympic Games were being held that summer after being suspended for 12 years due to the war. The selection process for the US team was a bit different than it is today. Instead of inviting players from various teams to try-outs, the Olympic committee held a series of games between the top college and AAU teams in the country. Professional basketball was much different in 1948. It was not as financially rewarding and many players chose to play for AAU teams which were sponsored by various companies. The players were technically "amateurs" since the sponsoring company employed them in some capacity and playing basketball for the company team was done simply as a means of "recreation". The premise of amateurism was quite strong in regard to the Olympics. While professional players were not allowed to participate, professional caliber players were eligible from the AAU teams. While these AAU teams during this period of time were essentially pro teams, the players were allowed to participate since they weren't being paid to play basketball. Meanwhile their pro counterparts who openly played for pay, were declared ineligible. As it did for many years, the Olympic governing body then employed a double standard where eligibility was concerned. There were many athletes in other sports that were being paid, but the powers that be simply turned a blind eye where they were concerned.

       The Olympic Trial games were split into two categories, one for the collegiate teams and the other for AAU teams. The games got underway at Madison Square Garden four days after the NCAA title game. The Wildcat's first opponent was the Louisville Cardinals. During the opening minutes of the contest it appeared the Cardinals might be on the verge of pulling a huge upset as they jumped out to a 5-0 lead. The Kentucky players seemed confused with the Louisville offense in the beginning, but it didn't take long for UK to recover. The Cats began to pressure the Cardinals and during a three-minute stretch they scored 14 straight points. Later in the half Kentucky had another scoring spurt of nine straight and went into the locker room at the break with a comfortable lead of 43-29. The second half was all Wildcats. UK roared past Louisville winning 91-57. It was the second highest point total of the season for the Cats. Ralph Beard was outstanding, scoring 22 points, while Wallace Jones added 19, Cliff Barker 13 and Alex Groza 12. UK would go on to the semi-finals to face Baylor, who had just slipped by NYU 59-57. It would be a rematch of the NCAA final of just a week ago.

       The opening contest of the trials semi-final resulted in a rout as the Phillips Oilers won convincingly 69-40 over the Denver Nuggets. With the Oilers seven time and reigning AAU champion already in as one half of the final, most of the local fans and especially the media were quietly hoping for a Kentucky victory to set up a showdown between the two top amateur powers in the country. UK was happy to oblige. The Wildcats got off to a fast start in their game, charging out to an 8-0 lead over Baylor in the first two minutes. The Bears didn't fold and came back to take the lead 11-10. Kentucky jumped back on top immediately, controlling the rest of the half and taking a 44-30 halftime lead. The Bears major problem once again was their inability to cope with UK center Alex Groza. Groza completely controlled the boards on both ends of the floor and finished the first half with 26 points.

       Baylor discarded the slow, deliberate offensive tactics they had utilized in their previous meeting with Kentucky, but they were still no match for the Wildcats. Before the end of the contest Kentucky had reduced the exhausted Texans to throwing up long, one-handed set shots. While Baylor was able to hit some of these, in the end it was not nearly enough to make a difference. Kentucky won 77-59 behind Groza's game high 33 points. Beard had another solid game with 13 points, Jones and Line both scored nine and Barker had six. The Bears put four players in double figures and probably played a better game than they had the week before. The fact that they were unable to fare any better this time against UK was just one more indication of the Wildcat's talent and ability.

       The media and fans got their wish for the Olympic Trials final; the NCAA Champion Wildcats would meet the AAU Champion Phillips Oilers. The local media called it the most attractive game at the Garden in years. In a way the teams would be playing for pride as much as anything since five players would be selected from each team to make up the bulk of the US squad. Adolph Rupp though would have plenty of incentive to fight for a victory; the winning coach would be designated head coach of the US team and the loser would be the assistant. Rupp was not at all crazy about the prospects of playing second fiddle to any coach on any team.

       I suppose one could say this contest was basically a college squad facing a pro team. The Oilers had won the last six AAU titles and were composed of former collegiate stars. For once Kentucky would face a team with a height advantage. The Oilers featured seven-foot Bob Kurland at center, who would give the Cats problems all night. Kurland had led Oklahoma A&M to back-to-back NCAA titles in 1945 and 1946. He was named tournament MVP both years and was a consensus All-American in 1944, '45 and '46.The game would turn out to be one of the best in the history of the Garden.

       18,475 fans filled the arena and watched as Kentucky set a frantic early pace to jump on top 20-13 with eight minutes to go in the first half. The Oilers kept their composure and refused to wilt, unfortunately the same could not be said for the Wildcats. During the next five minutes the Oilers ripped off 11 straight points to pull ahead 24-20, as the Cats uncharacteristically suffered an attack of the jitters. Kentucky was able to recover enough to even the score at 26-26 by halftime, but was dealt a severe blow when Cliff Barker suffered a broken nose near the end of the half.

       The Oilers charged from the gate at the start of the second period on an 11-1 run and led 37-27 after the first five minutes. It was time for UK to prove their mettle and behind the sensational play of Ralph Beard, the Cats made a remarkable comeback. With just over seven minutes remaining, Beard drove through the Oiler defense hitting a spectacular one-handed lay-up. Beard was fouled on the play and after making the free throw, Kentucky was back on top 47-45. The Oilers remained solid though, Kurland scored to tie the contest and after foul shots by Jesse Renick and Gerald Tucker, Kurland hit again from the foul circle to give his team a 51-47 led with 4 minutes to go. For once the Cats could not come up with the big play to pull the game out. The Oilers went to the stall for the final minutes and both teams added a field goal each to make the final score 53-49.

       Kurland was almost unstoppable, scoring 20 points, while Renick added 11. Beard led all scorers with 23 and had what many said was the most outstanding performance ever seen at the Garden. Mike Lee of the Long Island Press wrote, "It was poise and experience that told the story. There may have been greater individual performances in the Garden than the one by Beard, but I doubt it." Lou Effrat of the New York Times called it the, "…the greatest game of all times. Five words that cover a lot of years…..an exciting, tense, spectacular contest in which fortunes rose, sagged and rose again."

       Coach Rupp praised the winners in their dressing room saying, "Boys you have a great team. You beat us fair and square and deserved to win. Congratulations." He wasn't as polite in his own locker room saying, "I want to thank you bastards for making me an assistant coach for the first time in my life." In reality, UK had taken one of the best basketball teams in the game, both collegiate or professional, right down to the wire. While Rupp wasn't very happy with the outcome, it said quite a lot about the talent and ability of the Wildcats. To prove that it wasn't a one game fluke, Kentucky would be just as successful in the exhibition games coming up, losing two close games and winning one.

       The 14 players chosen for the US team were Ralph Beard, Kenny Rollins, Alex Groza,, Cliff Barker and Wallace Jones from Kentucky; Bob Kurland, Jesse Renick, Gordon Carpenter, RC Pitts and Lew Beck from the Phillips 66 Oilers. Don Barksdale of the Oakland Bittners who had been second team All-American at UCLA in 1947, Jack Robinson from Baylor and Ray Lumpp from NYU made up the remainder of the squad. The Oiler's coach, Bud Browning, would serve as head coach, with Rupp as the assistant. It was a position Rupp was not altogether happy with, but ironically, the two men would end up having quite a harmonious relationship, which would last years after the Olympic games.

       Before leaving for the Olympics in London, the US team played three exhibition games to raise money for the Olympic fund. The team split into two groups, one consisting of Kentucky players and the other the Oilers and the remaining players that were selected for the team. The first game took place in Tulsa, Oklahoma on June 30. Don Barksdale led the Oiler group to a 60-52 victory in front of a crowd of approximately 6,000 at the Fairgrounds Pavilion. The next contest was played July2 in Kansas City and was the most competitive game the two teams played. The Kentucky squad won in double overtime, 70-69. With just a few seconds remaining in the second overtime and trailing by one point, Rupp told Joe Holland and Kenny Rollins to "two-time" whoever had the ball. In today's lingo we would call this double teaming a player. While pressuring the Oiler ball handler, Rollins was able to swat the ball away and right into the hands of Holland. Holland was already behind everyone in the backcourt and simply drove in uncontested for the winning lay-up. Phog Allen was in attendance and was so excited with the outcome that he immediately grabbed a microphone and addressed the crowd. "Rupp was my pupil in 1923" he said, "and I am thrilled to death at his great success. The Kentucky boys fought their hearts out and I never saw a greater exhibition of basketball in my life."

       The third exhibition game was truly something special. The Oilers defeated the UK squad 56-50 before a crowd in excess of 14,000. What made this game "special" was the fact that it was played on a temporary floor, outside at Stoll Field, in Lexington……at night! The outdoor night game had been an ambition of Rupp's for several years. He said afterwards, "They said Larry MacPhail was crazy when he suggested night baseball…..When I suggested a couple of years ago that basketball could draw at night in summer as well as winter, they said I was crazy too. Well, if that's so, we had 14,000 crazy people at Stoll Field last night." The exhibition games were a monetary success and this was important since the US athletes could not accept any type of financial aid without risking the loss of their amateur status. Kentucky fans raised additional money aside from the exhibition game proceeds that allowed Joe Holland, Jim Line and Dale Barnstable to accompany their Fab Five teammates to the games.

       The US Olympic team sailed for London aboard the USS America in mid July. After arriving, the basketball team made a tour of Scotland playing exhibition games between themselves, when a floor could be found. The floors they had to use were crude at best, compared to the floors they were accustomed to in America. Most of the time they were over a hockey rink. The team played games in five different cities, before finally playing on a wood floor in the capitol city of Edinburgh.

       At each of these stops the US team was given a lavish, highly traditional welcome, with a city representative presenting a token of friendship to Coach Rupp. Rupp had been assigned the duty of accepting and making the American response, by reciprocating with a gift to the city official at these ceremonies. By the time they had reached Edinburgh, they had run out of souvenirs. Rupp clamored around and found a large key with a thermometer on it. Rupp told the crowd of the wonderful treatment he and the team had received from the people of the city and to show the depth of his gratitude and appreciation he presented the lord provost the "Key to the City of Lexington, Kentucky." The provost was so moved, he had tears in his eyes as he accepted the novelty key/thermometer.

       Basketball was not a very popular sport in England and as the games began attendance was almost non-existent. Crowds were very small and for the most part the competition was weak. The arena where the games were being played held approximately 10,000 people. I imagine it looked virtually empty for many of the early games. Ralph Beard recalled, "….we had about 53 people at one of the games….most of those teams were no better than a good YMCA team back home." Attendance did improve for some of the later games as the media and public began to understand some of the nuances of the game. For instance, the English fans felt it was unsportsmanlike for the players on the bench to cheer for their teammates out on the floor. And even stranger than that, they didn't think it was fair that the US team had bigger players than their opponents.

       The American players had other problems facing them, such as the manner in which some of the foreign players conducted themselves on court. Particularly annoying were the South Americans who would argue almost every call and exaggerate any hint of an injury. In one incident during the US-Uruguay game, Bob Kurland bumped into one of their better players who fell to the floor in apparent agony and was carried off on a stretcher. Only a short while later, he made a miraculous recovery and returned to the game. It wasn't just opposing players who were difficult to deal with either. The officials came from anywhere and everywhere, except the US. Basically all referees from America were paid for calling games, therefore they were professionals and not eligible to participate even in an official’s capacity. Many times the referees did not speak English, nor did the official scorer or timekeeper, so it was impossible to question a call or even get an explanation of a situation. It came to the point that the Americans just accepted whatever call was made, right or wrong and played on.

       During the exhibition games in Scotland, coaches Bud Browning and Adolph Rupp decided to use a "unit" system of substituting. Comprising one unit of mostly Kentucky players and another with mainly Oilers. This worked well for the first few games, but it later became clear that mixing even one or two players from one team with players from the other, was making it difficult for the squad to operate as smoothly as they should. Eventually the two coaches decided to keep the five Kentucky players together and the five Oilers together. They also used the Kentucky offense when the UK players were in the game and the Oiler offense when they were on the floor. There would be times when they could not stay with the system due to foul trouble, but by the time they reached the final few games, both squads were beginning to gel as a unit.

       The first opponent for the US team was Switzerland. The Americans had an easy time of it. Led by Alex Groza who scored 19 points, they defeated the Swiss by a lopsided 86-21 score. It was much the same a few days later as the US team notched another win, this time over Czechoslovakia 53-28. Coaches Browning and Rupp utilized the unit system in the two games and it worked fairly well. The Olympic rules allowed only 10 players per team in any given game, so the American team was forced to sit four players in each game.

       Argentina provided the competition for the US in the next round. Whether it was overconfidence or just that the players were still having difficulty becoming accustomed to one another, the American squad very nearly fell victim to what would have been a monumental upset. Even though the US team had basically had their own way in the first two games, there was evidence that the unit system was weakened if players were mixed between units. For the Argentina game two UK players, Ralph Beard and Cliff Barker, along with two Oilers, Bob Kurland and Jesse Renick, were held out of the contest. Removing this combination of players left the US team vulnerable.

       Using a starting line-up of Groza, Jones, Rollins, Ray Lumpp and Vincent Boryla, the Americans jumped out to a quick 14-9 lead. When the second unit consisting of Gordon Carpenter, R.C. Pitts, Lew Beck, Don Barksdale and Jack Robinson entered the game, the Argentines rallied and took a seven point lead at the half, 33-26. The starters returned to begin the second period and they put together an 11-4 run to tie the score 37-37. Due to foul trouble, the unit system was pretty much scrapped for the remainder of the game. The score changed hands several times and with just over three minutes to go Groza put the US ahead 55-53; Argentina would not lead again. After the South Americans tied the score at 55, Rollins sank a free throw, Robinson hit a short field goal and Carpenter added another free throw to clinch the victory. Argentina hit a long, disputed shot at or just after the buzzer, depending on whose side you were on. The US protested, but the officials counted the basket to make the final 59-57.

       One of the Argentine stars really impressed US coach Bud Browning. Oscar Furlong, who scored a game high 18 points, had Browning comparing him to former AAU star Jack McCracken. Browning called Furlong "one of the finest players I ever saw." Manuel Guerrero did all right also, scoring 17 points. The US was led by Barksdale and Carpenter with 12 points each and Groza added 11. The US coaches used the maximum of 10 players and all 10 of them scored.

       In their next game the US routed Egypt, 66-28. The Oiler unit did most of the damage in this contest, led by Kurland with 17 points.  The bias of the crowds and the officials was becoming more blatant with each game. Probably because of his 7ft. height, Kurland was bearing the brunt of the crowd’s jeers and boos. Even though some of these games were very physical, the officials seemed quicker to blow the whistle on the American players, than their opponents. In this game five players fouled out, three Americans and two Egyptians. A Chinese referee even hit Vince Boryla with a technical, saying Boryla was talking too much after he asked why a double foul had been called. Such was the atmosphere the games were played under.

       The US won their fifth game in a row defeating Peru 61-33 and thereby moving into the championship round of the tournament. While the previous games had been marked by rough, physical play, this time out the US coaches instructed the team to clean up its act. Coach Rupp said, "I told the boys to quit this rough and rugged stuff and get out there and play slick like you do at home." It must have had some affect as the team operated more smoothly and no one fouled out. Even the crowd behavior was better. There was very little booing and the Americans even got a few cheers of support for a change. In this game the five Kentucky players were used in the first half and the Oilers played the second. 'Wah Wah' Jones led the scoring with 12 points, followed by Barksdale with 10, Rollins had nine and Groza eight. The US would begin play in the medal round two days later against Uruguay.

       The US-Uruguay contest was a mismatch on the floor, but the South Americans won the acting competition hands down. The American squad won easily 63-28, basically wearing the Uruguayans down. The US big men carried the day, with Kurland scoring 19 points and Groza 10. An academy award should have been given to the Uruguayan team, as they over dramatized every incident that occurred. The players would fall to the floor on the slightest of contact. They argued, even pleaded with officials over calls made against them. This was the game in which a Uruguay player bumped into Kurland, fell to the floor and had to be taken from the court on a stretcher, only to return a few minutes later looking no worse for wear. With their victory, the US moved on to the semi-finals against Mexico.

       The US and Mexico entered their semi-final game both undefeated. France had already upset Brazil and would face the winner for the gold medal. Coach Browning started the Kentucky team intact for the second time. For a while the Wildcats really had a fight on their hands, as the Cats took an early one-point lead 6-5. After several minutes of ragged and uncertain play, the Kentucky five got their feet back underneath them and began to hit their stride. Using the fast break to perfection, they swept ahead to a 13-5 advantage. Then during one of the breaks down the floor, Barker raced for the basket, made contact with another player and crashed into the basket support. Barker suffered a bloody nose and was forced to leave the game. At this point the momentum turned in Mexico's favor. Whether the injury bothered the US players or Mexico just toughened up, the lead was cut from 13-6, to 13-12.

       Mexico was the best all around team the US had faced in the tournament and for a while it appeared as though the game would be a tight one right down to the wire. But two of the Wildcats, Groza and Jones, took matters into their own hands. In a matter of a few minutes they had moved the US team back out to a double-digit margin and had the American squad on top 30-14 at the half.

       Barker, whose nose had been broken earlier in the winter, re-entered the game late in the first half, replacing Jones. The same five that finished the half started the second. The Americans/Wildcats, extended the lead and gradually substitutions began. At the midway point of the second half, Bob Kurland finally entered the game replacing Groza. Booing rained down immediately, but "Foothills", as Kurland had been nicknamed, just smiled and shrugged them off. Kurland went to work, scoring one easy bucket after another. Then while going to the basket on a shot, Kurland ran into one of the Mexicans, knocking him to the floor. The contact was obviously incidental and the Mexican player was on his feet instantly and unharmed. The crowd booed mercilessly and the referee tossed the surprised Kurland from the game.

       The US team went on to win easily 71-40. Groza was forced to re-enter the game when Kurland was ejected and finished as the leading scorer with 19 points, which also made him the leading scorer for the tournament. 'Wah Wah' Jones and Kurland contributed 10 points each. The American team now would meet France for the championship, which everyone considered just a foregone conclusion.

       For the gold medal game the 10-player limit was waived allowing the teams to use their entire roster, which the US did. On the next to the last day of the 1948 Olympics, the outcome of the gold medal game for basketball really was a foregone conclusion. The US soundly defeated the French team 65-21 and showed that the rest of the world had a long way to go to catch up with the Americans in this particular sport. The Oiler unit started the contest and for all intents and purposes it was over by the two-minute mark. They got the lead quickly and simply pulled away, leading 28-9 at the half. All 14 players saw action and each one scored except Cliff Barker. Groza led the scoring with 11 points, Lumpp had 10 and for the rest of the Kentuckians, Beard scored four, Jones four and Rollins two. Groza would be the high scorer for the entire tournament.

       We will never again see an Olympic team organized as this one was. Using the starters from a couple of teams will never be done again. It was one of the high points of Kentucky Basketball during the 1940's and for that matter a high point in the entire history of UK Basketball. It couldn't be emphasized better, than by the legendary coach himself, Adolph Rupp. "It was the biggest thrill of my life to see five of my boys stand on the podium while the national anthem was being played and get medals as world champions."